Middle Bronze Age metallurgy in the Levant: evidence from the weapons of Byblos

This paper constitutes a synthesis of a technological investigation on copper base alloy weapons from Byblos. Most of the weapons are typical of the Middle Bronze Age in the Levant. Methods such as metallographic examination and chemical analyses by EDS were used to identify the different stages of the chaîne opératoire used in the making of these weapons. The results reveal precise information regarding the production of several types of weapons such as the type and performance of the moulds used for casting and the deformation process. Furthermore, these results highlight the contribution of economic and cultural factors in the choice of components in a copper base alloy recipe. Finally, the use of silver–copper brazes for joining copper base alloy objects is recorded for the first time for the period and region concerned.     

高句丽青铜器及冶铸遗物的检测分析与探讨

高句丽为古代东北地区的一个地方政权,公元前37年(汉建昭二年)建都至公元668年(唐高宗总章元年)灭亡,经历七百余年。多年来,考古发掘出土了高句丽时期的青铜容器、兵器、青铜铃等多种类型的器物。对于高句丽铜器、青铜器展开了一系列器物类型学的考证。而高句丽人是否拥有独立的铜冶炼以及加工的能力,一直是考古学家和冶金史学家十分关注的问题。本研究以科技手段揭示冶铸遗物及铜器、青铜器的内涵,对于探讨高句丽青铜冶铸业的发展状况及高句丽经济发展水平具有重要的意义。     

Nami's Middle Bronze Age Suburb: The Coastal Settlement at Site 104–106

This study presents a late 19th to early 18th cent. BCE, MBIIA settlement in the immediate vicinity of Tel Nami on the Carmel Coast of Israel. Site 104–106 has been all but destroyed by modern agricultural activity as well as quarrying, but a large number of ceramics and small finds were salvaged during a 1985–6 survey of Tel Nami?'s hinterland as well as subsequent geoarchaeological research of the area. Little of the site remains, and the current study functionally amounts to a salvage project for an MBIIA coastal site, which was mentioned in an earlier survey. Geomorphology reveals how the sandstone kurkar ridges in this area of the coast governed the dynamic relationship between Tel Nami and its hinterland. Comparable ceramic chronology for Site 104–106 presented derives from Aphek-Antipatris, Megiddo, Kabri, Tel Ifshar, Tel Nami itself, and other MBIIA coastal sites of the Southern Levant. The ceramics include well-produced local wares as well as imports from coastal Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus confirmed by petrographic analyses. Finds suggest a small agro-industrial site in the immediate periphery of the coastal Tel Nami.     

Provenance study of early and middle bronze age pottery from Kaman-Kalehöyük,Turkey, by heavy mineral analysis and geochemical analysis of individual hornblende grains

The provenance of Early Bronze Age and early Middle Bronze Age pottery produced between 2100 and 1970 B.C. and excavated from Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey was studied using mineralogical methods, including heavy mineral analysis and geochemical study of individual hornblende grains. The relative abundances of heavy minerals in the fabrics of 20 Early Bronze Age (EBA) and early Middle Bronze Age (MBA) pottery sherds, together with 27 local sediments collected within a radius of 25 km of the site were studied. The heavy mineral distributions in the Kaman region were statistically analyzed for consistencies in their occurrence. Amphibole was found to be the most abundant heavy mineral in most of the analyzed samples, followed by titanite and epidote. The amounts of other minerals such as garnet, clinopyroxene, and zircon are subordinate. Different proportions of heavy minerals in the fabrics allow categorization of the EBA and early MBA potteries into 5 groups. Comparative study of heavy mineral assemblages of local sediments and pottery suggests that half of the EBA and most of the MBA potteries were produced from sediment near the excavation site, whereas the other half of the EBA potteries were produced from sediment occurring at 25 km east or more east of the site. The geochemistry of individual amphibole grains was studied by electron-microprobe analysis. Most of the studied amphibole grains are calcic and aluminous, corresponding to hornblende. They can be further characterized into four types based on their chemical composition. The combination of heavy mineral identity and hornblende geochemistry provides diagnostic evidence for the origins of Kaman-Kalehöyük pottery. These and analogous heavy mineral techniques are effective archaeometric tools for determining pottery provenance.     

Moving metals or indigenous mining? Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotopes and trace elements

The aim of this study is to further the discussion as to whether copper was extracted locally or imported to Sweden during the Bronze Age or if both of these practices could have coexisted. For this purpose, we have carried out lead isotope and chemical analyses of 33 bronze items, dated between 1600BC and 700BC. Among these are the famous Fröslunda shields and the large scrap hoard from Bräckan and other items from three regions in southern Sweden which are also renowned for their richness in copper ores. It is obvious from a comparison that the element and lead isotope compositions of the studied bronze items diverge greatly from those of spatially associated copper ores. Nor is there any good resemblance with other ores from Scandinavia, and it is concluded that the copper in these items must have been imported from elsewhere. The results furthermore indicate that there are variations in metal supply that are related to chronology, in agreement with other artefacts from Scandinavia as well as from other parts of Europe. Altogether these circumstances open up for a discussion regarding Scandinavia’s role in the maritime networks during the Bronze Age.     

Fortifications and Enclosures in European Prehistory: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

This article reviews recent research into the archaeological interpretation and investigation of fortifications and enclosures during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Europe. Recent methodological, technological, and cultural developments have expanded our understanding of the temporal, spatial, and formal variability of these features on the landscape. Interpretations of this variability also have varied with different theoretical trends in the discipline. We advocate a cross-cultural approach that focuses on the occurrence of enclosures and fortifications over the long term at the continental scale. Such a macroscalar approach complements interpretive frameworks at the regional and microregional scales. The geographic and temporal distribution of these features indicates that social institutions associated with principles of segmentation and substitutability became formalized and tethered to the landscape during the Neolithic.     

The production of speiss (iron arsenide) during the Early Bronze Age in Iran

In this paper, analyses of some unusual slag samples from the prehistoric site of Tepe Hissar in northeastern Iran are presented. These slags are the remains of a five-thousand-year-old pyrotechnological process that produced speiss, a quasi-metallic material usually formed as an accidental by-product of copper or lead smelting. We argue that the “speiss slags” from Tepe Hissar suggest the intentional production of iron–arsenic alloy (“speiss”) in prehistory. Why the Tepe Hissar metalworkers produced speiss is a question that requires further investigation, but our preliminary assessment suggests that it was to provide arsenic as an alloying component for arsenical copper, the preferred copper alloy during much of the Early Bronze Age in Iran, and widely used across the ancient world. This recognition significantly advances our understanding of the early stages of metallurgy in the Old World.     

Metallurgical investigations at Godin Tepe,Iran, Part I: the metal finds

Godin Tepe, a large tell situated in western Iran along the Silk Road (High Road) and excavated from 1965 to 1973 by T. Cuyler Young, Jr. (56, 57, 58, 59 and 60), yielded over 200 metal artifacts dating to the Early Bronze through Iron Ages. Sixty-nine of these were investigated for this project using traditional metallography and electron probe microanalysis. It was found that the metal objects at Godin Tepe reflect a range of manufacturing techniques and represent multiple producers. In addition, a high degree of variability in production methods is seen for typologically similar aesthetic items like bracelets and pins, but there is uniformity in production of utilitarian items like chisels. The metals from Godin Tepe have provided great insight into the diverse manufacturing methods present on the Iranian Plateau in antiquity, especially during the Bronze Age.     

Trace element discriminants between Egyptian and Mesopotamian Late Bronze Age glasses

The origins of Late Bronze Age glass artefacts found throughout the Mediterranean and Near and Middle East remain controversial. Previous analyses of major and minor elements in both Egyptian and Mesopotamian glasses have proven equivocal, revealing no significant compositional differences between glasses from these two regions. Here we present new Laser ablation-ICPMS analyses of 32 trace elements in 54 samples of both Egyptian and Mesopotamian blue and colourless glasses. Our results show that there are consistent differences between these two suites, which are not related to the colorant and clearly indicate the use of different raw materials and/or manufacturing processes. Compositional variations are related to geological controls, hence this method holds promise for the development of a minimally destructive technique for discriminating between archaeological glasses of different provenance, which will be essential in the interpretation of ancient trade patterns and contacts.     

Natural preservation mechanisms at play in a Bronze Age wooden shovel found in the copper mines of Alderley Edge

A wooden shovel, dating from the Early Bronze Age, has survived in a remarkable state of preservation in the copper mines of Alderley Edge, Cheshire UK. Other historic timbers recovered from the mines, whilst still intact, have fared less well. An X-ray investigation into the distribution of minerals through the shovel using portable X-ray Fluorescence (PXRF) along with the use of synchrotron-based X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) measurements of the copper and arsenic chemical speciations has provided clues to the methods by which metals from the mining environment have entered the wood of the shovel and ensured its survival. The distribution and nature of the minerals so determined suggest that the copper and arsenic, along with a significant lead content, entered the shovel during its original use in working mineral-rich deposits, rather than through the burial environment. The insights gained are expected to be applicable to other wooden artefacts recovered from ancient copper mines in other places.